For immediate release
December 14, 2001

Board receives $649,468 in transportation funding

        Today, the Ministry of Education announced an additional $29.3 million in funding for student transportation. This is $6 million more than the additional support provided last year.
        "We are very pleased that the Ministry of Education has recognized the increased cost of transporting students, and in particular, the additional funding for boards with declining enrollments," said Judy Edgar, Chair of the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board. "The announcement recognizes that even though we may have fewer students, we still need to take school buses on the same routes."
        Today's announcement from the Ministry recognized the higher fuel costs for transporting students and expects that appropriate payments will be passed along to operators where operators have borne these costs without additional compensation. Some Boards, including the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board, have already committed to fuel escalator clauses to help bus operators in meeting the changing costs of fuel.
        "This special funding will help to reduce the shortfalls in funding for this year," said Chair Edgar, "but the one-time funding is just a temporary measure and does not fully address the ongoing challenges we face due to declining enrollments."
        Since the Board passed its budget in June, trustees and senior administrators have been meeting with Ministry officials and members of the provincial parliament to make them aware of the funding challenges faced by this Board. The cost of transportation was just one of them. The Board still has insufficient funding for school secretarial support, principals and vice-principals, and school operations.
        "The additional $649,468 in funding for this Board is a step in the right direction," said Edgar. "We are even more optimistic now, that together with our supporters we can affect changes to the current student focussed funding model."
 

For information contact:
Judy Edgar, Chair, Hastings and Prince Edward DSB, (613) 332-1480